


The Hux-Weasley AU

by Anna_Hopkins



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bill Weasley is Armitage Hux, Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, Established Relationship, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Harry Potter Epilogue Compliant, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Past Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29956185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anna_Hopkins/pseuds/Anna_Hopkins
Summary: “Sir!” One of the officers at the scanners gasped. “Apologies for interrupting, sir - the wormhole’s energy signature is fluctuating - a small mass has just appeared on scans-”Hux’s usual irritation at such insubordination was superceded by his interest in this development. Beneath his helmet, Kylo watched the way the General’s eyes lit up, the small shifts in his posture that betrayed his enthusiasm. “Tracking the object,” the same officer said, and then, “Sir, we have lost visual-”The officer at the next scanner console swore under her breath, frantically recalibrating the sensors-A rustling sound, just audible over the hum of screens and the clicking of keypads, had Hux and Kylo whirling around from their view of the viewscreens to see-A scarlet envelope floating in the air, visibly smoking at the edges.“Oh, kriff,” the General muttered under his breath, before the envelope burst into flames.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 31
Kudos: 79





	1. It Always Starts With A Wormhole In Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kharmachaos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kharmachaos/gifts).



> This has been in my notes for months and I finally just posted it lmao, my poor server members have heard me ramble about it since September, bless them for their patience
> 
> Takes inspiration from past crack ficlets / comics in which Hux is Bill Weasley - I'll find them all and link them because they are the best thing ever

All was quiet on the bridge of the  _ Finalizer _ during beta shift. The bridge officers at their stations were in top form, their collective efficiency a thing of beauty: surely, their commanding officer would be proud of them, were he here to observe, as the Star Destroyer made its way along a disused hyperspace lane in the Unknown Regions.

Unbeknownst to them all, General Hux  _ was _ proud of their group - and had in fact specifically scheduled them all together for this beta shift, one of many ways he was minimizing the disturbances to today’s rest period; because he had deliberately scheduled said rest period to coincide with that of his co-commander, Kylo Ren. And the two of them were spending their shared leisure time  _ quite _ enjoyably at present-

Until there came a shipwide tremor which knocked over Hux’s glass of Corellian brandy, caused the lights to flicker in a non-Force-related fashion, and made Hux’s comm light up with a dozen separate alarms and alerts from both the ship’s automated systems and several officers on the bridge crew. “Pfassking Sith hells,” the General swore, stripping off his soaked off-duty clothes and getting back into uniform, “I ask for one shift,  _ one _ shift, without incident and this happens?”

He shot a suspicious glance at Kylo, who was sprawled out on the floor with the datapad containing Hux’s latest modifications to his TIE Silencer clutched protectively to his chest. “In fact - you aren’t responsible for this somehow, are you?”

“No, Hux,” Ren sighed tiredly, as he did every time he was subjected to such accusations - he’d gone from being angry at the suggestions, when they’d first met, to simply resigned, knowing now that it was Hux’s way to blame the nearest possible culprit. “I’ve been- did we just come out of hyperspace?” He sat bolt upright, not disguising his alarm, as the ship shuddered a second time and an automated announcement informed the crew they’d entered realspace. “What the hell?”

Hux thought much the same as he gelled his hair back into regulation. This hyperlane was rarely used by ships of the  _ Finalizer’s _ size, but he remembered being on it at least once before, back when-

“Oh dear,” he said aloud, catching Ren’s attention as the man put his helmet on. “I believe I know where we are.”

The bridge officers were only marginally less efficient in an emergency than under normal circumstances, reporting in turn as soon as their commander - and co-commander - arrived to assess the situation. If they were nervous to see both General Hux  _ and _ Lord Ren in the same room, they kept it to themselves; Kylo didn’t sense much overt fear in the Force. (He appreciated that, about Hux’s men, though he’d never tell him as much.) “Reporting, sirs,” the first officer began. “Twenty minutes ago we encountered an anomaly in hyperspace of indeterminate origin and nature; one minute later we were pulled out of hyperspace, all engines out-”

“-Engines and hyperdrives now ready for resumption of transit at your order, sirs-”

“-Preliminary scans of the area have yielded one black hole within scanner range; its gravity is oscillation on a precise frequency indicative of-”

“A stable wormhole, yes, at ease,” Hux cut off the rest of the report, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Coordinates, helmsman?”

The numbers the officer rattled off were about what he’d expected. “Run a second diagnostic, and then we will return to hyperspace,” Hux ordered after a moment’s consideration. “This anomaly is long known to the First Order-”

“Sir!” One of the officers at the scanners gasped. “Apologies for interrupting, sir - the wormhole’s energy signature is fluctuating - a small mass has just appeared on scans-”

Hux’s usual irritation at such insubordination was superceded by his interest in this development. Beneath his helmet, Kylo watched the way the General’s eyes lit up, the small shifts in his posture that betrayed his enthusiasm. “Tracking the object,” the same officer said, and then, “Sir, we have lost visual-”

The officer at the next scanner console swore under her breath, frantically recalibrating the sensors-

A rustling sound, just audible over the hum of screens and the clicking of keypads, had Hux and Kylo whirling around from their view of the viewscreens to see-

A scarlet envelope floating in the air, visibly smoking at the edges.

“Oh, kriff,” the General muttered under his breath, before the envelope burst into flames.

"WILLIAM ARTHUR WEASLEY," came a furious female voice, and Hux gestured to the guards and Ren to stand down with their phasers (and lightsaber), "HOW DARE YOU UP AND LEAVE THE COUNTRY - YOU WILL COME HOME TO BRITAIN RIGHT NOW AND SEE TO YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS - LEFT YOUR WIFE TO RAISE YOUR DAUGHTER - HAVEN'T WRITTEN - HAVEN'T VISITED - VICTOIRE IS  _ GRADUATING HOGWARTS _ WITH NO FATHER TO SEE HER-"

"You have a  _ wife?" _ Kylo hissed, barely audible over the shrill yelling coming from this inexplicable pseudo-holocron which was  _ still shouting- _

"-HOPE THIS REACHES YOU AT THE MOST  _ INOPPORTUNE  _ MOMENT POSSIBLE - AND WHY IS YOUR HAND CONSTANTLY MOVING BETWEEN WORK AND MORTAL PERIL? WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU UP TO, YOUNG MAN-"

"How long is this going to go on?" Hux wondered aloud, just as inaudible, expression stoic in the face of the Howler's continued ire-

"-SO  _ IN CONCLUSION _ YOU WILL DEMAND A HOLIDAY FROM THE GOBLINS AND COME HOME POSTHASTE OR SO HELP ME MERLIN I WILL HEX YOUR BOLLOCKS OFF IN A  _ BLOOD RITUAL, _ DO YOU HEAR ME?" The Howler paused, as if drawing in air, and concluded, at a normal volume, "Surely you don't wish to disappoint your mother any more than you already have, my dear? Love, Mum."

Then the envelope burned away completely, leaving a pile of ash on the floor. A cleaning droid appeared from the side of the room to sweep it up.

"..General?" Kylo asked when his ears stopped ringing.

"Diagnostics completed, all systems optimal," an officer submitted, glancing between the General and the retreating droid. "Your orders, sir?"

Hux drew in a deep breath, and out, as solemn as one could be with a face beet-red in embarrassment in a way it hadn’t been in years. “Set a course for the nearest outpost and prepare the Silencer for launch by next alpha shift.” He withdrew something from his sleeve - a monomolecular blade? No, was that a stick? - and spun it idly in his hand. “Lord Ren, if you would confer with me in my ready-room.”

“Of course, General,” the hulking Force-user agreed immediately, eyes fixed on the stick. The bridge officers were not as successful at hiding their confusion in the Force as they had been at hiding their fear; but they did as they were told, turning back to their stations.

Yes, there had been a good reason Hux chose these people for beta shift. They knew better than to gossip while on duty.

Ten minutes later, in Hux’s ready room:

"We're going through the wormhole to my home planet," Hux informed Kylo without preamble.

This had the expected result: Ren was so confused that he didn’t stop Hux from taking off his helmet and Knight robes and dragging him to the refresher, intent on combing out Kylo’s hair into something manageable. “What- isn’t your home planet Arkanis?” Kylo stammered, summoning a stool with the Force to sit on while he let Hux tend to him. (Hux maintained that he secretly liked it. Kylo would never admit to more than merely tolerating Hux’s fussing.)

“Clearly not,” the General replied dryly, rolling his eyes. “You do recall that I’m a wizard-”

“A not-Jedi wizard, yes,” Kylo remembered  _ that _ explanation very clearly-

“Obviously I’m not from Arkanis, then, as they do not have wizards there. Do keep up.”

Several minutes of further silence as Hux retrieved supplies from the cabinet under the sink and sent a droid to get changes of clothes from their shared quarters. Then: “Did you say we’re going  _ through _ the wormhole?” Kylo realized with a start. One of the few bits of advice he’d ever taken from his f- from  _ Han Solo _ \- was  _ not to mess with space anomalies. _ “Are you.. sure?”

“Of course I’m bloody  _ sure, _ Ren!” Hux massaged shampoo into Kylo’s scalp more roughly than necessary, which the dark-haired man would never admit he found pleasant. “Anyway, the Empire used it all the time back in the day, it’s perfectly safe.”

“And…” Kylo trailed off, blushing from his cheeks down the back of his neck, “the both of us?”

“Oh, certainly,” Hux washed out the shampoo. “You think I’m going to face them  _ alone? _ It’s been nearly twenty years for them - closer to thirty for me - and yes, that’s wormhole-related time anomalies,” he added before Kylo could ask, working conditioner through the ends of his hair. “I have neither the patience nor the temperament to deal with six siblings and Force knows how many nieces and nephews. And more than that,” Hux’s hands lingered on Kylo’s shoulders, rubbing the tension out of the generous muscles there, “I want them to  _ see you, _ Kylo Ren, as I would want them to see any treasure they can never have - see, and envy.”

The Knight bit his lip against a smile; Hux’s voice had lowered to a growl on that last part, possessive and self-satisfied. He tilted his head back to look up at him. “So you’re dressing me up,” he observed with a teasing glint in his dark eyes.

“Just for the first day,” Hux promised. “After all, it  _ is _ vacation.”


	2. What Goblins Actually Do In Egypt; Or, Bill Weasley Sees The Stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (minor note here - the wormhole warps time a bit so it passes faster in the GFFA than the HP 'verse. It'll be clarified in the next chapter, I think.)

It started in 1998, when the goblins called Bill Weasley in to the London branch of Gringotts on top-level security clearance-

No, no. Let's start from the beginning.

Once upon a time, there was Bill Weasley, eldest son of Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley nee Prewett; husband to Fleur Delacour, father of Victoire. Known as a cursebreaker in the employ of Gringotts Bank, he was loved by his family, a hero of the war against Voldemort.

And before most of that happened - before marriage, before Voldemort’s return, before the war - when he was  _ just _ Bill Weasley, employee of Gringotts’ curse-breaking division, scarcely removed from Hogwarts’ 1989 graduating class, Bill was privy to the real reason goblins isolated themselves from wizarding affairs:

Bill Weasley glimpsed the  _ galaxy. _

So it really started with the excavation of a tomb in Egypt that even the goblins lacked a precise name and chronology for, and the discovery of a room with a strange cursed object made of a metal Bill had never seen before.  _ "Get back!" _ the overseer shouted in Gobbledegook, and Bill was only seventeen and a half but he knew enough of the language to listen - flinging himself barely out of the way of red glowing wards that came up around the pedestal where the artifact sat, snapping up between the ceiling and the floor faster than a hungry Nile crocodile. His teammate, who hadn't been quick enough, lay beside him in two precise, bloodless halves.

_ "Ray shields, linked to the holocron," _ the overseer growled when Bill had scrambled back to their campsite, fighting nausea. He looked to a group of goblins on the fringes of the camp, who thus far hadn't done anything Bill had seen, and barked,  _ "As we expected. Call the Imperials. They'll send their specialist." _

They made camp for the night, not far from the ruins of the mysterious tomb, which the goblins were now calling a ‘temple’ in their language. Bill reread the study materials for Gobbledegook he'd been given at the beginning of this assignment, puzzling over the unfamiliar words by the pulsing red glow of the - ‘ray shields’, was it? - that lit up the entrance like a beacon through the dawn. It felt.. strange, to look at the source of that light. Cold and hot and just generally shivery.

"You're not the only one who senses it," another of Bill's team gruffly informed him - he was beginning to recognize that tone as a caring one. The subtle heartbeat coming off the artifact, he was told, was audible to everyone; Bill just more than others. “Don’t worry about it, it’ll be taken care of soon enough.”

Overnight, the team commanded by the overseer assembled something mechanical on a flat stone: a technology far more complicated in appearance than Arthur Weasley’s confiscated Muggle items, more like enchanted objects than machinery at all. Bill watched, bewildered, as a glowing image formed in the air over the gleaming metal blocks, and humans - wizards? Muggles? - appeared out of it, blue and ghostly, in dark military uniforms. The overseer spoke to them in English, and the humans assured him that ‘he’ would soon arrive to retrieve the  _ holocron. _

They waited three days in the desert. On the fourth day, night rather, the metal device - a ‘comm’, Bill’s teammate named it - lit up again, and words were exchanged just a moment before a flying machine descended from the dark sky with a high whirring sound, gleaming chrome.

A  _ spaceship. _ Like in Muggle science-fiction, except it was  _ real, _ and it was even cooler than Bill had seen in illustrations-

A hatch opened; a ramp descended; silence fell over the camp, and a renewed cold breeze uncharacteristic of the desert blew through, just as a steadily repeating noise echoed from within the ship. It was like breathing, but distorted, what Bill had always imagined dementors would sound like, as he prayed never to encounter them in the wild.

The sound grew louder, and heavy footsteps announced the appearance of a tall figure in shining black armor from within the ship, cape billowing behind him. Several of the goblins stood up straighter, astonishingly respectful of the newcomer, who strode with purpose up to the camp overseer to loom, undeniably menacing, over everyone else present, with the air of barely-contained violence such as Bill had never experienced before.

“Lord Vader,” the overseer greeted with a formal bow Bill hadn’t seen him use before. “We have left the holocron untouched as per usual procedure. Is there anything-?”

But this Lord Vader was not looking at the tomb, or the overseer, but at  _ Bill. _ He could feel the weight of the man’s gaze, for all that he couldn’t see the eyes under the skull-like helmet’s red lenses. “Ganuk,” he addressed the overseer in a deep rumble, words paced out with the mechanical breathing, “what is a human doing among your number? Your government assured the Empire that only your species participated in galactic affairs; the Emperor will be displeased to know of the treaty being violated.”

Bill’s throat felt tight; he swallowed, with difficulty. He was in trouble?

“That one is no mere Muggle,” Ganuk hastened to explain, “but one of the planet’s Force-sensitives, who cooperate with our dominion and may observe such business under the exceptions of Section 238. Contract-bound to secrecy for the work we do-”

“Come here, boy,” Vader ordered, waving his hand dismissively, and Bill found himself walking over without meaning to. His pulse skyrocketed - what compulsion had this wizard cast without a wand or an incantation? Shaking hands went for his wand, fighting to keep his terror off his face-

“Do not,” said Vader, as Ganuk snapped, “Put that away, Weasley!” Bill froze, holding out empty hands as his boss -  _ not _ Vader - had told him. He swallowed again, feeling another chill, and glanced wide-eyed between the overseer and this frightening spacefaring visitor.

There was a moment of silence.

Then: “I will borrow this one,” came Vader’s voice again, brooking no argument.

Ganuk choked on air. “The goblin nation’s treaty with the Empire guarantees our planet’s wizards remain on-planet and out of your affairs - the noninterference goes both ways-”

Vader held up a hand, again. Bill got the impression he was being unusually patient. “I am not  _ enslaving _ him.” In fact, he sounded disgusted by the implication.

Bill stood up as straight as he could. “Then, what am I doing, sir? Erm - Lord Vader?” That was how the goblins called him, right?

What he was doing turned out to be ‘accompanying Vader into the tomb for no apparent reason’, as the man - not a wizard, apparently, but something called a  _ Sith _ \- retrieved the holocron from its resting place. The Sith found magic ‘amusing’: a ‘woefully indirect’ connection to something called the Force. When Bill in turn described this Force of Vader’s as wandless, wordless magic, Vader laughed - sort of - through his respirator.

Bill had no idea what had made him stand out to Vader, really, but he didn’t ask; he was busy answering questions about magic, and hearing about the differences between it and the Force. Visions? Foresight? That was a Seer’s rare gift, in Bill’s world, but for trained Force users, apparently much more common. Then there was supernatural intuition, enhanced physical strength and agility,  _ mind reading _ \- which sounded like Legilimency, but wasn’t? - and mind  _ tricks, _ which wizards could most closely approximate with compulsions and Obliviation, but not do simultaneously. It was incredible.

(Years later, Bill would recall this discussion on a sunny day in Shell Cottage and consider if Harry Potter’s famous luck wasn’t  _ just _ luck, after all.)

In contrast, magical Apparition was an exceedingly rare Force talent; Vader muttered about ‘witches’ and ‘wizards’ and didn’t elaborate on why it amused him. And Transfiguration and conjuration were just not done by Force users - “though it is clearly not impossible,” the Sith mused, watching with rapt attention as Bill went through a series of basic spells away from the camp.

And then the day was over, and Vader was departing the planet, and Bill’s teammates took one look at his fascinated expression and told him about the complicated treaty between goblins and the distant space Empire, and how he would never be able to learn about all of this in detail - indeed, he could never go into space, at least not that far, to the place Gobbledegook termed  _ the galaxy far, far away. _ When he returned to Britain, it was with an unspoken dismay nestled at the core of him, now, a yearning - unfair as it was - for  _ more, _ for worlds further and stranger than his own.

He chafed at this new restriction; directed that frustration into the war against a re-emerging Voldemort; sought the unfamiliar and lovely in his marriage to the beautiful Fleur Delacour; but nothing,  _ nothing _ could completely distract him from the knowledge of a galaxy beyond the stars that he  _ could not reach, _ a place he was forbidden to see.

_ Whatever became of Vader? _ Bill wondered, when years and wars had passed since that fateful meeting.  _ Would I have ever met him again? If I’d left? _ He bounced his infant daughter on his knee, and tried (and failed) to let her delighted giggling derail his thoughts from that time-worn fantasy of escape.

Add in years of continued work with the goblin nation - the goblin  _ dominion, _ as they were called during interstellar affairs - and Bill’s secret fascination with Imperial technology, the incredible advancements he could only use while hidden away in goblin territory. Add in his annoyance at wizards’ complacency, their lack of innovation, at the way no one seemed to even  _ consider _ space travel, at how even Muggle technology had only managed to put people on the moon, decades or  _ centuries _ away from that barest glimpse he’d gotten of the Empire’s starships.

Add in the way everyone began to treat him like damaged goods after he’d defeated Fenrir Greyback, just because he had a puny  _ scar _ on his damned  _ face; _ either a beast or a broken man, as it suited them, as if a single thing had changed from how he’d been before!

Even his  _ family _ walked on eggshells around him - he’d caught  _ Fleur _ using her allure on him, just enough to keep him complacent around the baby, as if he needed it! As if he would  _ ever _ harm them - harm  _ anyone- _

So. It didn’t precisely  _ start _ in 1998, when the goblins called Bill Weasley into the London branch of Gringotts on top-level security clearance-

But it certainly was that day that it all came to a head, when a representative of the First Order, a successor government to the Empire, appeared at the bank to renegotiate the treaty - and Bill, as someone Vader had specifically spoken of years ago in regard to the planet, was called upon to serve as a liaison for ‘his’ people.

Commandant Brendol Hux looked up in surprise as Bill entered the meeting hall in one of his better sets of robes. “Isn’t this a shock,” the man said, brows raised, before he held out a meaty hand for Bill to shake with a wide, deliberate grin. “Why, you could be my son! Ha! If I had one, that is.”

Stars, he really could. Their shared complexion was a rarity in the galaxy at large; what made Bill so obviously a Weasley in Magical Britain was apparently just as distinguishing of a Hux in the Imperial remnants that comprised the First Order.

Which gave Bill an excellent idea.


	3. A Long Short Trip.

Just because Hux  _ said _ they would be leaving, didn’t mean they actually  _ could _ go - both commanding officers of the ship being absent at the same time was just asking for a mutiny, and both the general’s appointment book and the bridge shift schedules had been filled weeks if not months ahead of time. Not to mention the question of what would happen if they were absent when the  _ Supreme Leader _ called-

Or so Kylo had thought. But in the hour immediately following the appearance of what the General called the ‘Howler’, while Kylo grudgingly donned layer after layer of the formalwear Hux had goaded him into getting, Hux rearranged shift schedules; postponed meetings; sent orders to the bridge; and drafted a short message on the off chance Snoke summoned them for an audience during their absence.

(He’d shuffled a deck of playing cards, muttering under his breath, in an attempt at ‘divination’ through that peculiar Force-adjacent magic, trying to determine how likely such an event would be.

“Minimal,” Hux had informed Kylo after a bit, “but then, I’m shite with the Sight, so I’ll contrive some excuse…”)

He was still working on it when Kylo sat down on the opposite side of the desk, and didn't look up as he floated the 'fresher mirror off the wall to hang in the air in front of him instead; nor when he retrieved two small bottles and brushes from the pockets of his robes from earlier; Kylo could tell the General was in his element, making drastic changes to strategy on short notice, and decided it would be more fun to surprise Hux when he was done.

"-and  _ there,"  _ Hux said, some time later, finishing his writing on the datapad with an unnecessary flourish. "All right, let's get going, I'd rather not have to use a wrinkle-ironing charm on this uniform, it fries the.. tracking chips.." Kylo could hear the moment he actually  _ looked  _ at him from the way he trailed off, and knew without looking over that he'd stolen the General's breath away.

"..Ren?" he asked breathlessly - yep, he'd totally stolen it. "Why-?"

_ Plenty of reasons, _ Kylo told him through the Force - he couldn't move his mouth until the paint dried; this, too, he conveyed, before Hux could gripe at him for invading his mind.  _ At least partly because you think it's pretty. _

But also because he admired the ancient Naboo tradition of wearing face paint to battles, where possible. He hadn't explained that part of it to Hux before, and he didn't intend to now, lest he put the man on edge any more than he already was. Kylo hadn't needed the Force to see the lines of tension in Hux's posture when the Howler finished its message; if his General expected a fight, then he would be prepared for one.

And he thought it was pretty.

"Well, I suppose," Hux muttered, averting his eyes; Kylo had to try much harder not to smile when he saw the flush on his cheeks. The General commed the bridge again, this time to order all the hallways between his ready-room and Kylo's private hangar bay cleared; then he swept from the ready-room, and after replacing his helmet, Kylo followed him.

It only occurred to Kylo when they reached the command shuttle Hux had ordered be prepped for departure to ask whether he would be piloting it. "I don't know, Ren," Hux drawled, "have  _ you  _ flown through a wormhole before? You seemed pretty frightened earlier when I brought it up."

Knowing he was being baited didn't mean he couldn't rise to it. "And you have?" Kylo snapped, crossing his arms while the shuttle ramp descended. "You never seem to like piloting any  _ other _ time."

Hux just gave him a flat look. "How else would I have gotten here?" He rolled his eyes, slipping ahead of Kylo to get to the pilot's seat before he could be questioned further, and gestured to the empty copilot seat when the taller man caught up with him. "Hurry up, would you?"

Kylo didn't comment on the General's fussing; if he got into it with Hux this early in the trip, who knew how miserable the rest of it would be? Speaking of which - "How long is this going to take?" He glanced in the direction he knew the wormhole lay, a bit on edge from the way it presented to his Force senses, an ominous vortex which he tried not to think about too much.

"Not long," Hux promised, finishing the preflight checks. "An hour's trip once we get through the wormhole? And we've got about four days to spend on the other side; I left us a bit of wiggle room in the schedule, since the timelines don't match up."

_ "Hux," _ Kylo's helmet didn't disguise his strangled voice. "This is a  _ time-warping wormhole?" _

"You can't tell that with the Force?" Hux scoffed, but he did give him an actual answer after that, piloting the shuttle out of the hangar bay and making for the wormhole at a reasonable speed. "Two days there are three days here, give or take. I've allocated us a week of leave to sort this out; hopefully we won't need all of it."

They breached the wormhole's gravity well; Hux ran an override on the shuttle's warning systems and steered them directly at it, then keyed up the hyperdrive. Kylo shuddered, trying not to look like he was holding onto the copilot seat for dear life, but the General seemed relaxed, almost bored, which lent credence to the claim of having done this before. "We'll be liaising with the Goblin Dominion on the other side," he went on, eyes on the hyper feed. "You'll have to keep your mouth shut for that part, so if you have anything to say, you'd best say it now, or hold onto it until we land."

"Just one thing." Kylo took off his helmet to meet his eyes, a teasing grin spreading across his face. Hux raised an eyebrow, and punched the jump button, turning the wormhole into starlines and throwing them through spacetime with a thunderous roar, before he could even hear his comment-

"-'William Arthur Weasley', huh, Hux? No wonder you changed your name-"

Loud as it was when one entered a wormhole - or perhaps just this one; there was no record of other such portals being used - the exit was silent, with only a small fluctuation of energy when they were spat out the other end. Hux leaned back in his chair as the shuttle received the local galactic map and updated their coordinates: they were only a short hyperjump from the star system of his home planet, which meant they were within range of the Dominion's local comms.

He keyed in the code, long committed to memory, and waited for the goblins to pick up the line, holding orbit out near Saturn in the meantime. The connection was garbled with static from adjacent frequencies, but he knew the ship wouldn't be detected by Muggle scanners in the meantime unless he wished it to be: Ren's shuttle was one of several docked on the  _ Finalizer  _ with cloaking capabilities, and he'd engaged them well before they crossed over.

Soon, the static resolved into a chime. "Unidentified extragalactic flyer, you have entered Dominion space," came the automated message, first in Basic, then in several more languages. Ren perked up, looking very interested, when the message came in Shyriwook; Hux made sure the video feed wouldn't include him when it started. He rattled off the shuttle's ID for their records, and announced, "General Hux of the First Order, here to visit headquarters in London - care of Ganuk Bane-of-Sands."

_ 'Bane-of-Sands'? _ mouthed Ren from the periphery. Hux waved dismissively at him outside the scope of the video feed.

"..Acknowledged," said the goblin who'd picked up the feed after the automated messages, as the feed resolved into the familiar blue hologram Hux had so admired as a wizard. "Gringotts extends its welcome, Weasley." In Gobbledegook, they went on,  _ "Good to see our best cursebreaker survived his contract. The boss wants to see you before you go back to the far-galaxy." _

_ "I'll make time in a day or two," _ Hux agreed easily, closing one eye in the fashion of a goblin's smile.  _ "Clan mother first, though, or she'll follow through on her threat to castrate me." _

Ren's hands twitched in his lap; he was obviously listening in on their conversation with the Force again, to circumvent the language barrier. Hux didn't even bother to protest it at this point.  _ When we've landed, _ he reminded the man,  _ I will explain. No sooner. _

"Transmitting flight path now," said the goblin, and closed the comm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: _The Rise of Starkiller (or: William Weasley's Wonderful Work)_


End file.
